This paper articulates an Augustinian account of hopeful expectation or future thinking that acknowledges its limits and is shaped by exemplarity to imagine and hope otherwise.
First, I argue that since our imaginations of the future are conditioned by and indexed to our memory, Augustine’s use of consuetudo (i.e., "custom"/"habit") provides resources for thinking through the historical contingencies and burdened pasts that shape our present and future expectations. Then, I note how our hopeful expectations of the future are inextricably perspectival and limited given the distorting effects of temporality. I argue that this means we need resources and perspectives other than just our own to coherently imagine hopeful futures, particularly in pluralistic democracies. Finally, I suggest how Augustine’s sermons on the martyrs provides resources for reflection on how exemplarity cultivates imaginative excellences towards expecting and hoping for a liberatory future that exceeds what we alone remember and think possible.